Foam Forming: An Effective Method to Prepare Polyimide Fiber-based Paper

keywords:foam forming  long PI fibers  high forming consistency  bubble size  formation

Abstract:Well-dispersed fiber suspension is the precondition of good paper formation. Compared with cellulosic fibers, synthetic fibers are prone to flocculate because of their long length and hydrophobic nature, resulting in poor paper formation. To solve this problem, dispersants and extremely low forming consistency are typically adopted during the traditional wet-forming process, which cause a large amount of water consumption and treatment cost. Therefore, increasing forming consistency without compromising paper formation remains a challenge for papermakers. In this work, foam forming was adopted to disperse polyimide fibers (PI) with high forming consistency. The results showed that the formation index of handsheets increased when the bubble size and distribution became small and narrow. Compared with traditional wet-forming process with the same consistency (0.4%), the formation index of handsheets by foam forming increased by approximately 100% when C8 alkyl glucoside (APG08) concentration reached 16 g/L. Notably, forming consistency could increase by eight times while keeping the same level of paper formation. Overall, foam forming exhibits great advantages in dispersing long fiber and reducing water consumption and environmental pressure, and has potential applications in specialty paper made of long fibers.